Mary O'Rourke (Fianna Fail)

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Roche, and the succession of Ministers who have come here since, for attending this debate. The Members who have sought the debate epitomise a particular tenor of this Seanad in concentrating on European matters. The Joint Committee on European Affairs, of which our spokesperson, Senator Ormonde, is a member, has kept to its task since the Convention started. Pat Cox and the Irish members of the Convention have attended debates in this House. All of them infused us with information and rendered us receptive to the progress of the Convention and its report.

With the benefit of hindsight, it now seems politically astute of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing to have first released reports of such scope that they took the breath away. Everyone drew breath and hoped they would not be the final version. While we do not know what the final text of the report will be, its firm shape is beginning to emerge. There is not much cause for dread in this for Ireland. We are all parochial. While we have believed in "project Europe" both before and since joining the EU, our enthusiasm has varied as years have passed. This is a natural thing. We were flushed with enthusiasm for the project in the beginning and voted in substantial numbers to join it. In terms of responses to the Eurobarometer surveys, we remain strongly attuned to, interested in and enthusiastic about Europe.

Poland showed the first flush of enthusiasm for the project in its recent referendum on joining. They had two days of polling. On day one 17% cast their votes, while over 40% voted on the second day. In an electoral sense, I found this interesting. Perhaps this could be looked at in elections here. When it emerged that only 17% had voted on Saturday, it allowed for the momentum to be increased and for people to cast their votes on Sunday. Poland is experiencing the first flush of enthusiasm and I hope it lasts a long time.

Ireland retains a steady adherence to European matters in social, economic, security and economic spheres. These are issues with which we feel an affinity with Europe and wish to express it. We have moved on from being a "go raibh maith agat" country and no longer talk only about what we can get from Europe but also what we can put into it. I have always believed that we contributed to Europe. In my years of attending ministerial councils I felt that as a small country, Ireland had as much to give as bigger countries. We had our opinions, voice and convictions and this contributed to coherence in decision-making.

As Senator Mansergh has said, we are trying to bring about a sense of coherence without making it an overriding compulsion or a straitjacket. This is the course we have steered under the Minister of State, Deputy Roche, and the members of the Convention, Deputies John Bruton and John Gormley and Mr. Proinsias De Rossa, MEP. We also have a strong sense of conviction of being Europeans of the highest order.